I know this is beta and I understand that all the questions I have posed may not have answers to them. That's ok I do understand but I hope you all do not mind me asking anyway.

So I have 3 last questions:

Will SPI devices be supported (via api/library)?

Will there be support for LCDs such as the Hitachi HD44780 LCD controller?

Sometimes it is nice (or necessary) to have direct access to the port registers (among other things). Any plans to support this?

Mon May 14, 2012 5:55 pm

tfriez

Site Admin

Joined: Wed Jan 24, 2007 10:42 amPosts: 620

Re: three last questions I promise

1. SPI is a future development to be in firmware.

2. We support Serial based LCDs right now (obviously) - as for a parallel port LCD, more than likely this will be done with a user include file.

3. I'm not sure about having direct control over the PORT registers. What would you use this functionality for? We give all possible configurations of each pin (along with extras like PWM generation) and we do the analog conversion for the user. If you make your case, maybe we'll add it

3. I'm not sure about having direct control over the PORT registers. What would you use this functionality for? We give all possible configurations of each pin (along with extras like PWM generation) and we do the analog conversion for the user. If you make your case, maybe we'll add it

Thanks for all the answers. The reason I've needed to use PORT registers in the past was to set particular pins simultaneously (mostly when controlling multiple H-bridges).

However I believe some the shields on the market such as the Adafruit wave shield and the TFT Touch shield use them within their libraries. I was curious that if the need arises will it be possible to make libraries in RobotC to support those types of devices.

Tue May 15, 2012 1:26 pm

tfriez

Site Admin

Joined: Wed Jan 24, 2007 10:42 amPosts: 620

Re: three last questions I promise

You can create ROBOTC interpreter level include files using a standard C-Style #include - The best example of this with peripherals is to take a look at the extensive library that Xander has made for 3rd party NXT sensors.

I haven't used ROBOTC a whole lot, but I have used NXC and Arduino C++ quite a bit. Most often I use my own libraries, but they all need to be completely compatible as if they were in the main program (same syntax, function names etc.).

ISR support should be available for all levels of programming, whether it's a simple LED blinking program, or a library with support for a RTC that wakes the AVR on timer overflow.

Recently I built a library (in C++ for the Arduino, using the standard IDE) that would interrupt the code to toggle an IO pin. I was using precision of 1uS to generate IR messages (with an IR LED). While that was "running in the background", it would continue to run the main user-program, with no noticeable delays. Without timer interrupts this would be impossible to do.

The biggest downside to the main popular NXT FWs, is that none of them support user-implemented interrupts, or direct control (for single task, high speed, high timing precision programs). I know there are pros and cons to the two system architectures, but it would be cool if the previously distinct lines could optionally be blurred a little with ROBOTC for Arduino.

I made a simple SPI library for my DFRobot LCD screen. I'm going to have see if I can find it but it was quite fast. (http://botbench.com/blog/2010/12/28/fun ... r-arduino/)I am struggling to find the original source code for it. It used to be in Dropbox but I seem to have misplaced it. I'll let you know when I find it again.

The goal of the BETA is to identify the features most people are interested in and then add those during our development this summer.

I could see how a native SPI would be ideal. It's definitely on the "todo" list.

Maybe you should make a "sticky" thread for feature requests?

_________________A.K.A. inxt-generationSelf-proclaimed genius, and future world dominator.My Brickshelf Folder"Don't they teach recreational mathematics anymore?" - The Tenth DoctorBow down to Nikola Tesla, King of the Geek Gods.

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